Manual to S-Tronic - Review

[davemark]

Hi All

I know when I was looking to get my new car I was searching high and low for peoples views on should I get an S-Tronic or should I stick with a manual.

Well, I have now owned the car for 6 months and have covered about 5000 miles and wanted to share my thoughts along with many others on forums.

Coming from a manual it did take about a week to get used to it, kept going for the clutch and wanting to change gear. But you soon get used to it.

The S-Tronic box is more jerky than say my old BMW E46 Auto, I find the harder you drive the S-Tronic the smoother the gear changes are. On the whole, though it's smoother than a manual unless you change spot on. I find 1st / 2nd are the jerky ones and then any others you don't even notice!

The main area that im still struggling to get used to is the changing down, unlike breaking and selecting the correct gear manually the box will come down through the gears and this can cause (for me anyway) quite a jerky slow down as you get added engine braking as the car comes down through the gears.

I'm still adjusting to this and I have pretty much got used to it.

Sometimes I get caught, say you slowing down and suddenly want to accelerate it can get confused but this is rare and just a matter of changing your driving style. I have yet to get the software update which will apparently fix many niggles with the box (after some research)

The flappy paddle mode is fun but only used it like 5 times in 6 months, I just enjoy D or S and the lazy drive lol but when I find a country road it's great to flip paddles and have some fun.

Would I go back to a manual? - No not for my daily drive, may get a second project manual shift but daily drive and sitting in traffic I'm 100% happy with my decision, yeah I do miss sometimes the ability to go from 6th straight to 3rd but this is ignored with the smoothness and stress-free drive it gives.

Car Details: - Audi A3 2.0 170 S-Line - TDI
Average MPG - 50mpg (Combination of A Roads, and country roads and occasional motorway blasts. - Approx 500 miles to a tank.

Not a professional review but hope it helps some people, I plan to get the box mapped with the latest software and possible engine economy remap will report back after,

Cheers

Dave

 

[AndyT306]

i find mine super smooth, leave it in E... then the throttle doesn't do much, which is probably why mine is so smooth!

i too wouldn't go back to a manual now, far too much effort, i actually find driving manual cars an annoyance now

 

[jdp1962]

I've driven automatics of one form or another since 1989. They've come a long way since then, and S-Tronic is a revelation by comparison with my first 3-speed torque converter box. To be honest, with self-changing technology at the level it is now - along with manual mode - I'm puzzled why manufacturers still make cars with a full manual box and clutch. It's the clutch bit I don't get; a mechanical mechanism that has to be operated a thousand or more times a day by stamping your foot on a lever is just about the last remnant of Victorian technology from the dawn of the motor car. It's the equivalent of the levers in a signal box for moving points at a railway junction. Absurd!